1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a program for reproducing image data obtained by a digital still camera or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
As one form of digital photograph services, an image storage service has been known. In an image storage service, image data are received from a customer and stored in a system of a service provider such as a DPE store and a laboratory, and a printing order is received via a network such as the Internet.
In such a service, image data received from a customer are stored in a system of a service provider and can be accessed by inputting a password or the like on a network. The customer can also browse the image data stored in the system and can place a printing order regarding the image data stored in the system by accessing the system via the network (see U.S. Patent Laid-Open No. 20020032909, for example).
In a system for providing such a service, image data are deleted after a predetermined period has expired, since an image storage server has limited capacity. Therefore, a system has also been proposed for automatically deleting image data whose storage period has expired without involving an operator or a system administrator while the storage period can be changed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11 (1999)-203360, for example). Furthermore, a method has also been proposed for sending image data whose storage period in an image server has expired to a user by recording the image data in a recording medium such as a DVD.
Moreover, a reproduction apparatus has also been proposed for enabling reproduction of an image from a video cassette recorder and reproduction of an image received by a tuner by switching the input sources of the image to be displayed on a display device such as a television set (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 6(1994)-121241, 7(1995)-131868, and 2001-326828, for example).
By using such an image storage service described above, a customer becomes free from a trouble of storing a large amount of images he/she photographed. However, when the customer wishes to find a desired one of the images, the customer does not know whether the image is stored in a DVD, or in an image server, or in a digital still camera, for example. Therefore, the customer needs to find the image from all the images stored in a personal computer, the DVD, the digital still camera, and the like, which is troublesome for the customer.
Some of TV sets and personal computers have a function of displaying an image that is input from a digital still camera and an image that is stored in a DVD by switching the input sources. However, in order to find a desired image, a user needs to change a device (the input source) storing images to be reproduced. Consequently, the user cannot find the desired image without thinking of the device.